


Fuchsia Princess

by chucklingChemist



Series: Alternian Snapshots [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fantrolls, Gen, There's Multiple Heiresses, Toxic Friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 19:43:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17628494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chucklingChemist/pseuds/chucklingChemist
Summary: There were a multitude of ways Careen would describe herself. Certainly, she could call herself beautiful and no one would complain. No matter which way you looked at her, she was aesthetically perfect. Long lashes, perky pink fins that only just poked past luscious, thick hair, a cute smile filled with non-obtrusive canines, distinct cheekbones and collarbone without looking skeletal and grotesque, delicate, uncalloused fingers, and nary a pore out of placeA simple story about Alternian's ever-forgiving Heiress.





	Fuchsia Princess

**Author's Note:**

> You know honestly I was going to hold off posting this and give it a few days, but eh this has been sitting in backlog for a while and I gotta get all this stuff moved at some time or another. And this one was fun to write for probably all the wrong reasons. 
> 
> Pothos is owned by actualsnowleopard. You can, of course, catch me over on chuckling-chemist.

There were a multitude of ways Careen would describe herself. Certainly, she could call herself beautiful and no one would complain. No matter which way you looked at her, she was aesthetically perfect. Long lashes, perky pink fins that only just poked past luscious, thick hair, a cute smile filled with non-obtrusive canines, distinct cheekbones and collarbone without looking skeletal and grotesque, delicate, un-calloused fingers, and nary a pore out of place. Even her dress style, large ballroom gowns with corset tops, petticoats and frills that made her feel like the princess she officially was, were designed by top-paid seadwelling designers and carefully hand stitched to really feel like the heiresses of old, from hundreds (thousands? she couldn’t remember) of sweeps ago.

Careen was talented. Anyone could see it. It felt like anything she truly put her mind to, she could accomplish. At her young age, she had become a famous online artist for her stunning landscapes and life-like portraits of the common people she surrounded herself by. It wasn’t the only reason she was popular, though, oh no. Careen understood the complicated system of Alternian astrology to perfection, and graciously gave anyone who asked kindly on her prestigious blog advice. She also could give quality romantic advice in context to the most two important quadrants: the red and black. Not to say giving advice about the other two were truly _difficult_ , but rather…less important. She was so good at giving advice in context of quadrants, she even had short stories related to an epic romance she would eventually finish posted for the world to see. Trolls of all castes praised her work and she’s received nothing but the highest compliments. No one could compare to her skill.

Above all though, Careen was _forgiving_. Careen held no ill will against her tutors for instructing her, the Heiress of all trolls, to move closer to an ancient landdwelling city and keep it contained, complete with needing a second hive. She refuses to let the drones run too rampant in senseless culling. It’s not wholly the lowblood’s fault their standard behaviors were uncouth and largely inappropriate. Truly, a sign of just how much she was willing to forgive them by acknowledging their obvious guilt in the eyes of the courts, yet still held no fuss, only true understanding of who they were, and forgave them of what they would do before having ever done it.

Careen however, could never say she didn’t help someone who wasn’t in need of it. And so when she strolled down the uptown streets without a care in the world and saw the vague figure of someone struggling to carry a stack of white binders into the landdwelling city’s only real library, she became overcome with purpose to help this poor troll. She dashed over beside the stack, finding behind it was a small tealblood and too-tall horns with messy dark hair. The tealblood didn’t seem to acknowledge her obvious presence, too focused on the walk ahead of her, but that was okay. Tealbloods were notorious already for thinking away they could get away with more than they can - they are only midbloods after all! - but Careen understood that. This troll probably just needed a brief reminder of who stood nearby her.

Careen cleared her throat with a delicate cough. That finally seemed to alert her…somewhat. The tealblood didn’t turn around, however she at least did ask, “Oh? Is there something you need?”

Careen sighed. Apparently she would have to be more obvious. She walked around the binder stack to face the other troll head on, placing a gentle hand on the binders to stop the figure in their place. The troll’s amber eyes widened behind her geeky wire-framed glasses for a brief second, but quickly returned back to normal size. “I was merely looking to help you, darling. This is quite the stack of binders.” She glanced down at them, each one marked with a piece of torn masking tape displaying faded words she didn’t understand.

“No no, it’sssss fine!” she said brightly. There was a pause in her speak, and she shook her head. “Well, actually if you could get the door to the bookhive? If you wanna help. Otherwise, you don’t have to worry at all.”

Careen smiled widely. “Of course! My name’s Careen, by the way. Premier Heiress to the throne.”

The other troll smiled back. “I figured. There was a big fanfare when you moved in, and it’s not like there are many fuchsiabloods,” she said nonchalantly. The troll sidestepped away from the hand stopping her to continue moving towards the library.

Careen fought to keep her smile up as she followed. This troll was a tealblood. Were tealbloods taught social norms among the higher castes? Probably not. As such it wasn’t her fault she had such an expressed nonchalance about being in the presence of the highest of royalty. It was clear what this troll needed was a teacher of some sort. Someone to help polish all the rough edges being a midblood in a city like this would bring, even to the highest landdwelling caste that wasn’t a subjuggalator.

“Yes, that is quite true. So silly of me to forget about it,” she said with a laugh. “Now, what is your name? It’s generally considered polite to give it out when the other troll has already.”

“Really? Huh. Guess I didn’t know,” she said. “Call me Pallia.”

Pallia stopped in front of the door of a large, brick building with hazy jade green lights emanating from the windows. “A good enough name,” Careen said. She glanced at Pallia quizzically. “Now, Pallia, can you tell me why we stopped?”

Pallia blinked owlishly. “This is the bookhive,” she said matter-of-factly.

Careen’s face fell. “Well, that was a incredibly short walk,” she said.

“Why I said all I needed was someone to get the door,” Pallia said. “Speaking of which… um…”

“Oh yes, right, right.” With a quick smile returning to her face, she grabbed the metal handle of the door and swung it open. “A pleasure to meet you, Pallia, truly. In fact–” she used a free hand to put a hand on the other troll’s shoulder, stopping her cold in the doorway. “I’m sure with that fanfare I had you so rightfully pointed out, you know where I live, yes?”

Pallia chuckled. “It’s hard to miss the construction of such a big mansion, yeah.”

“Well then, how about you come on down in a week’s time or so. Same time as now. I’m out looking for new friends in this city, and I do think the two of us just gel so well,” she said.

“Uh…sure. I’ll try to make sure I’m free then,” Pallia said. “You said next week right?”

“You are correct!” Careen giggled. She gave the other troll a quick shoulder pat before prancing off, excited at the prospect of helping this troll. “I’ll see you then, Pallia!”

In hindsight, there was no reason to get overexcited. Pallia arrived the next week, roughly fifteen minutes earlier than expected. The night between the two had been mostly uneventful. Pallia seemed more interested in plucking leaves and petals of some of the more unusual plants in the gardens, leaving them desecrated, than anything Careen had in mind. However, she managed to temper the other troll’s aberrant behavior and eventually get her to sit down with some lunch, handcooked by her dedicated servants using only the highest quality ingredients exclusive to seadwellers. The two talked for a while over food in her spacious kitchenette (there was no reason to use the dining room, which was so lovingly crafted to hold whole parties of trolls if it needed to).

“So,” Careen asked as they snacked on perfectly wrapped sushi, “how would you like me to get you inducted into high society?”

The way Pallia nearly choked on her food in surprise was almost appropriate. “What? Oh goodness, that seems….well, complicated,” she said.

“Complicated? Oh, it’s hardly complicated when someone like me is helping you with high society. I can introduce you to everything you need to know,” she said pleasantly.

Pallia shook her head. “No, no…like…I’m not really sure that type of scene is my thing? If that makes sense.”

Careen’s fins twitched lazily as she rolled her eyes. “It’ll be absolutely no trouble because you’ll blend in perfectly. Except for you blood caste itself, but trolls bring in their lowerblooded quadrants all the time! Only a few trolls will actually notice you’re a midblood.”

Pallia cocked her head to the side. “That’s not what I –”

“Oh, please, it’s on everyone’s pan when they’re not cerulean or higher,” she said airily. “Really, there’s no need to lie to me to make me feel better. I can take it.”

She blinked a few times in obvious confusion, quite clearly unused to such a frank and observant highblood, then nodded. “Um…okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Excellent! Then let’s get started, shall we?”

For the next few weeks, Careen asked Pallia to come over twice a week to do nothing but help her with high society. Careen taught her proper highblood etiquette; everything from engaging in proper conversation with higher castes, to dining etiquette and the difference in various affairs and how to properly dress for them. She showed her different hairstyles and applications of makeup, using her acute knowledge of color theory to assist. Pallia listened intently, even if she seemed lukewarm on the fashion advice, making a comment that one of her friends happened to be practicing nonstop to become a designer, and made most of her formalwear already.

Careen simply let her talk. It’s what teals did, after all. If it it made her feel better in the privateness of her hive, she wasn’t going to stop her.

By the last day of her assistance, the two of them decided to get lunch at some upscale restaurant outside of the city. Careen graciously offered to pay for the both of them, knowing the price ran high for a midblood, even if said midblood were teal. They weren’t even going out for any sort of practice. Rather, the both of them were hungry and Careen caught wind of the frankly pitiful food situation Pallia had at her hive, and thought a good restaurant would both fill the need to show her what else is out there, and give them a good location to have her favorite type of conversation.

“Well Pallia, I really must ask, have you been on the lookout for a good quadrant?” Careen asked as the server handed out their food. Careen had a plate of shrimp and caviar in front of her, lightly seasoned with the finest, organic seasonings and served with rice and crackers. Pallia had a fried eggplant covered in some sort of cheese and red sauce, some sort of lower class food. At least the restaurant in question topped it with some fresh green spinach. “In particular, one of higher standing than yourself. A good troll to have around your arm at a formal ball or event not only looks good, it prevents unsavories with crude come-ons from talking to you.”

“Was I supposed to?” she asked. A playful smirk twisted on her lips as she added, “Is that the reason we went here? You want to ogle at some rich trolls?”

Careen sighed irritably. “No, no, no. Do try to keep up, Pallia. This is for you.”

“I need a quadrant,” she said flatly, the obvious traces of doubt seeping into her voice.

“Yes!” She paused. “Well, _not necessarily_. You don’t need one, but it will certainly help. I can even help you get one! Of course, I’m certain the advice I gave you will assist in the matter, however, you could always use the extra help and I’m _absolutely excellent_ at giving advice in this matter!”

“Uh…huh.” Pallia stared blankly at her for a while before returning to her food. “Is this going to be like the asking I get rid of my glasses style of advice?”

The “glasses advice” had been Careen telling Pallia it would be better for her to wear contact lenses, as they would assist in her physical appearance. Glasses of any sort made her look very “tealblood-esque”, and only fed into the stereotype that tealbloods were all geeks, nerds, or various other bookish types. Pallia very curtly said she needed her glasses to see, she looked _wonderful_ in glasses despite Careen’s objection, she had zero interest in contact lenses, and that was the end of the discussion. Careen hadn’t appreciated the snap in her voice as she spoke, and really still didn’t, but eventually managed to compromise with saying maybe somewhere down the line she can get something a little more attractive.

“Oh no! I’d simply help get you set up with a potential quadrant, I can set it up as a double date with one of their friends so you don’t have to be there by yourself, maybe give you some books on flirting and dating…oh no this would be highly different,” she said. “Now, do you have a type? And what quadrant are we looking?”

“Careen, I’m not sure I want you finding a quadrant for me,” Pallia said.

“And why is that?”

“My type is…” she sighed, tapping her fingers on her fork for a while before finishing, “particular.”

Careen laughed, fins fluttering lightly. “Oh please! I’m Heiress, darling. My connections span oceans and continents, and if I don’t know them, certainly someone I know knows them. Everyone has a pair for each quadrant after all, and you just need to find yours.”

There was silence for a while as Pallia considered her words, eating the whole time in the break. Finally, as she set her fork and knife down, she slowly said, “Okay. Sure. So type. Hm…type.”

More silence. Careen found herself edging up to the end of her chair as Pallia didn’t speak, only ate in distinct thought.

“Well,” she said finally, “I guess, like…a matesprit? I think I could handle that. Uh…male. I think. Smart. Probably bookish, if I’m being fair. Decently groomed, probably funny? Not sure I could be around someone with no sense of humor. Ideally not too self-centered.”

Careen beamed. “Those, I do believe I can work with. I should be able to find you a suitable partner in no time whatsoever. Now, what kind of date would be suitable? I have plenty of options and –”

“Can I just…meet them before going on a date? Maybe like at your hive or something?” Pallia asked. “Dating’s not really my thing.”

Careen’s face fell. “Well how can you know if you’ve never tried?” she asked.

“Sometimes, you just get a feeling. You know what I’m talking about, right? This is one of those times,” she said. Pallia took her now empty plate and moved it to the edge of the table. “Thanks for paying, by the way. I don’t eat out much.”

“Of course, of course!” she said, smiling once more. The server came over and handed her the bill, which she instantly added a black and pink plastic card to before handing it off. “And I suppose, while slowing down the process, yes the two of you can meet first. Perhaps at my hive would be best. I would like you over to review part of my novel anyway. While I hardly need a beta, it looks better when you have one.”

“You…you already have someone in mind?” she asked doubtfully.

“Is that a problem, darling?” Careen asked. “Now of course if the troll in question denies it, plans will need rescheduled, but I can be _very_ persuasive.”

She shook her head, re-fixing her glasses to her face. “You just caught me off guard ‘s all. I guess you weren’t lying about having connections.”

“Oh please, when do I lie?” The server returned, handing her a receipt and card back. Careen smiled at them, waiting until they disappeared off towards the back of the store to shrug her faux-fur coat on, leaving a half-filled plate of food on the table.

“Aren’t you going to tip the server?”

“Hm?” Careen glanced at Pallia, still sitting down with a slight frown.

“That server was a brownblood,” she pointed out. “Probably gets paid wholly in tips. You’re not tipping them?”

“Oh Pallia, you’ll learn as you start going to these events there’s really no need to tip them. Getting paid in tips is just a rumor started by the trolls at the bottom to claw themselves up to the top,” she said smoothly. “Really now, if we waste much more time here, I am afraid we might use up the last of the moonlight.”

“It’s like 3 a.m,” she said flatly. With an exaggerated roll of her eyes, she started digging through her teal purse. “How much was the bill?”

“Pallia I just said, that is hardly –”

“How much was it?” she asked again, sharper this time. She huffed, and pulled out a decently large bill to put on the table. Careen didn’t stop her. If she wanted to become a literal charity case to lowbloods by paying for stranger’s weekly pay, that was her prerogative. “You know what? Never mind. That should cover it.”

“You are too kind, truly,” Careen said.

“That’s one way of putting it.” She grabbed her stuff and slid out of the chair, a low exhale escaping her mouth. “Now, what time are we meeting next?”

“Is next week suitably appropriate? I should have everything ready by then,” Careen said.

Pallia smiled wryly. “Is it always next week?”

“Well, a week gives more than a suitable enough time for me to prepare everything as needed. You never want to plan events too close together, or you’ll never have time to clean up from the last one,” she said.

Pallia sighed again, smile falling for a brief second before returning. “Uh…right. See you next week then, Careen.”

The next week couldn’t come slowly enough. All of Careen’s time was spent arranging plans for the following week. She had to get in contact with the troll she believed to be a perfect fit for Pallia, a seadweller from her old home, and make sure he had appropriate arrangements for coming over and staying a few days. Then there was, of course, making sure the 5000-ish word fic to have Pallia read was finished as well. By the next meeting date, everything was ready, if only just. The violetblooded friend, a troll a little older than the both of them by the name of Pothos, arrived a night early and, when Pallia arrived later on, she made careful sure the Pothos answered the door with her.

“Pallia, what a pleasure!” Careen said brightly. “Pallia, this is Pothos. Pothos, Pallia. I am sure the two of you will get along fantastically.”

Pothos really was the ideal fit for her. He wasn’t the most attractive troll she knew, standing tall and rather casually dressed, but that was okay. It wouldn’t make her possibly feel like she was in some sort of competition or feel insecure about him being prettier than her. He was highly intelligent, and Careen found he was incredibly easy to talk to, as he spoke brazenly about topics Careen didn’t understand about. But, maybe Pallia did!

Pallia gave him a small, polite wave. “Uh…hey,” she said awkwardly. The smile on her face retained its polite appearance, never much changing in any way.

Pothos gave her a disinterested nod. “Hey there. Careen’s friend?”

“Something like that, yeah.” She looked to Careen. “You wanted me to read that fic too?”

“Oh yes, right. Right. Come on in! Let us go into my bedroom, I’ll dig out the paper and while you two converse, I’ll get us some lunch.”

She led them up the grand staircase and into to her bedroom, Pallia sticking with Careen far closer than she should have been in comparison to Pothos. There was some talk, introduction stuff mostly, and Careen ignored it. After all, it wasn’t a long walk, what with the smartly designed wide, well-lit hallways that circled the upstairs and made travel intuitive from any direction.

Careen’s room, like anything else attached to her, was meticulously designed with her in mind. The walls were painted a pink to match her blood color and were offset by a dark wood vanity and wardrobe. Everything in the room had distinct art nouveau decor that curled around the walls and up to the ceiling. Cushions and couches in violets matched both the overly-large bed and recuperacoon on the far wall. Personal dresses, all ballgowns of some sort, stood on display with the mannequins near the end tables. A smooth black grand piano, for herself and only herself, rested in the outer corner near the doors leading to her personal deck.

Careen barely spent any time in her room, only snatching a stack of papers on a perfectly neat end table and handed them to Pallia before seeing herself out.

“Here’s the piece to the story. Please tell me what you think!” She peeked her face out the door on the way out, “And you two, don’t forget to talk to each other!”

The door closed with a resounding click as she bolted away to grab one of her numerous servants - this one a female rustblood - and had her make lunch for all three of them. It took more time than she anticipated, but within a solid twenty minutes she had a plate filled with gourmet sandwiches to take back to her room.

“Careen!” Pallia said when the door opened. She nearly jumped off of the plush purple sofa the both of them sat on, papers in hand, towards the heiress.

“Yes, yes, here I am. How are you two doing? How’s the fic? Wasn’t it astounding?”

Pallia’s eyes widened as her face went pale. “Uh…well…I read it over. Twice, really. It was long, but not too hard to get through.”

“And…” she said. “Obviously you have more to say.”

Pallia paused, tapping her fingers on her arm. “Well…it’s not bad,” she said slowly. “I’m not sure it’s my thing though? And there were a lot of technical errors. And that’s ignoring –”

Careen rolled her eyes. “Then you didn’t understand it. Pothos must have been talking your ear off the whole time, clouding your pan.”

Pallia frowned. “No, no. Yeah, he was talking but more at me. I didn’t find it too hard to ignore him when I needed to focus. But yeah, there’s a decent amount of technical issues. I was confused as to why they’re uh…pailing too? I think I might have missed a chapter.”

Careen’s fins fanned out. “Obviously you didn’t understand it.”

“I understand it just fine,” Pallia said. Her pleasant tone dropped, keeping dangerously neutral. “It’s porn without plot where you couldn’t call it a bulge and a nook. I guess it maybe makes sense in a greater narrative, but there isn’t one that I can see. So it fails to be both an epic romance and decent smut. It just…it’s not bad. If you pick an angle and stick with it, I’m sure it would be better.”

Careen raised a carefully plucked eyebrow. “And why are you telling me this?”

“You said you wanted critique. And that there was no need to soften anything through lying. That you could take it. Remember?”

Careen’s claws dug into her arm as she scowled. “Well, I presumed your tact would have improved dramatically by then, but even with all my help, you’re the same teal tramp carrying books to a library,” she said.

“Help?” Pallia scowled, crossing her arms. “Careen, I’ll be fair, you’ve barely listened to me since meeting me.”

“I’m doing what’s best for you!”

“And telling me what to do without my say, trying to push me to do stuff I don’t care for and not even listening when I said I don’t want a quadrant is doing what’s best for me?” she asked harshly. Pallia’s voice grew in volume the longer she continued her tirade.

“You and Pothos are getting along beautifully,” Careen said.

“Pothos is nothing like what I described. Pothos is the _antithessssissss_ of who I’d prefer, if I even had time and interessssst to begin with! He talks over me, treats me like an idiot, he’s so pompous I’m pretty sure he called salt sodium chloride to sound smart…” she trailed off, groaning before continuing, “but you know what they say about birds of a feather!”

“And what do they say?” Careen asked darkly.

“I don’t know Careen, you tell me. You only try to explain to me everything else I already know,” she snapped back. “I’ve put up with it for this long in part because I thought okay, you’re a sssseadweller, probably just detached from everyone. That condescension was accidental. I could put up with it. You seemed _genuine_. But now? The only genuine thing about you is your frankly awful personality.”

Careen crossed her arms tightly around her, scowl deepening by the second. “Pallia I would warn you to speak better to–”

She shoved the papers into Careen’s chest, letting them fall when she didn’t grab them.“Fuck off, Careen. Send the drones, cull me here, I really don’t care at this point. Just get out of my life.”

With a deep glare, Pallia stormed out of her hive, leaving Careen to stand there, baffled.

It was only when Pothos finally stood up, she growled, “Don’t let that troll take her 7th Sweep Ordeal. Let her starve wishing she could be the dutiful legislacerator trolls like her become.”

“I thought she was some landdweller trying to work under the Empress’ technicians,” Pothos said lazily.

“I don’t care _just make sure she’s barred_ ,” Careen snarled. “I’m far too kind to go and have her culled when she can die, hoisted by her own pride.”

***

It was several sweeps later. Careen learned from her mistake of allowing a midblood, much less a tealblood, into her inner circle. And certainly, forgiving the crude behavior of lowbloods aside, she knew lowbloods held no interest in her help. She still lived in the same city as before, artfully did everything in her power to limit Pallia’s influence (which was minimal anyway), and frequently had to deal with the far more infuriating problem of living in close proximity to Mayola, a fuchsiablood who somehow lived past pupation to become a theoretical threat to the throne as well as undoubtedly the worst option. And of course, a simultaneous thorn in her side and effective lusus-sitter, as Mayola actually enjoyed going out and hunting to feed Careen’s monstrosity of a lusus. They were the only two seadwellers that had become permanent residents of this dingy city. Any others were mere visitors.

Except for one.

She saw him before anything else, as even with the all black, mostly incognito appearance, the seadweller holding natural flared fins native to southern trolls. And she saw him in weeks prior, meandering around the city with the look of a troll with no real idea what he was doing. Certainly, something she would be easily able to fix.

“Why, hello there!” she said brightly. The seadweller turned toward her, a polite smile on his face. He wasn’t the prettiest seadweller, but that was due to the messy hair and lanky body. His smooth, albeit tired, polite voice and well-tailored suit more than made up for it.

Careen suddenly realized she never followed her own advice with Pallia and, lacked a quadrant herself in a concupiscent quadrant, and a pretty enough seadweller from the luxurious southern coasts would compliment herself better than any landdweller could.

“Oh, ah…my apologies. I did not see you there, My…” he paused, fins fluttering as it dawned on him who spoke to him. “Ah, my…my Heiress. You may call me Dontoc.”

Careen gave him her most flirtatious smile. She had him already. “Well Dontoc, you can call me Careen.”


End file.
